| Session Title: Bridging Research and Practice: Implementing With Quality Matters |
| Multipaper Session 213 to be held in Conference Room 14 on Thursday, Nov 3, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM |
| Sponsored by the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Abraham Wandersman, University of South Carolina, wandersman@sc.edu |
| Discussant(s): |
| Sandra Naoom, National Implementation Research Network, sandra.naoom@unc.edu |
| Abstract: The complex and dynamic nature of the implementation process continues to challenge practitioners and researchers. Narrowing the gap between implementation research and practice requires collaborative efforts between multiple systems of stakeholders. The Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) provides insights into how implementation can be improved by offering a unique perspective centering on interactions between these systems to build the capacity needed to implement with quality. The papers comprising the proposed presentation discuss the role of quality implementation in the ISF and describe a tool (the Quality Implementation Tool; QIT) that is being used to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders. The session begins with a conceptual overview of the QIT followed by case examples currently utilizing the tool to 1) develop a clinical outcomes tracking system in a university mental health facility and 2) a recovery-oriented intervention working with substance abusing pregnant women to deliver their babies substance free. |
| An Overview of the Quality Implementation Tool: Concepts and Applications |
| Victoria Chien, University of South Carolina, victoria.chien@gmail.com |
| Jason Katz, University of South Carolina, jaskatz@gmail.com |
| Annie Wright, University of South Carolina, patriciaannwright@yahoo.com |
| The Quality Implementation Tool (QIT) is a synthesis and translation of research literature on the "how to" of implementation. It provides practical strategies to improve implementation; to help program designers, evaluators, researchers, and funders proactively plan systematic quality implementation; and to suggest future directions for research. This presentation will discuss a) the methods and results of a literature review of implementation frameworks which identified practical strategies for quality implementation and b) the methods and results of a synthesis and translation of the strategies identified through the implementation framework review. The synthesis and translation was the team-based mechanism through which the QIT was developed. The QIT is comprised of six components, including "develop an implementation team," and "foster supportive organizational/communitywide climate and conditions". We will close by discussing the versatility of the QIT, and its application for implementation planning, and real-time monitoring and evaluation of implementation quality. |
| Using the Quality Implementation Tool for Consultation: Enhancing the Capacity of a University-based Mental Health Clinic |
| Duncan C Meyers, University of South Carolina, meyersd@mailbox.sc.edu |
| The Quality Implementation Tool (QIT) is being used to facilitate a collaborative project which is developing an enhanced outcome tracking system at a university-based mental health facility. The tracking system measures outcomes related to client functioning and therapist performance in an effort to enhance the extent to which client therapeutic goals are met. Specifically, the QIT has been employed as a consultation tool to help plan, monitor, and evaluate the extent to which the outcome tracking system is implemented with quality. As a consultation tool, the QIT has grounded the development and implementation of the tracking system in implementation science theory and facilitated collaboration among stakeholders with diverse roles in the implementation process. Session attendees will be engaged in a discussion related to 1) the utility of the QIT for planning, implementing, and monitoring this innovation and 2) implications for use of this practical tool for consultation purposes. |
| Utilizing the Quality Implementation Tool to Provide Quality Innovation Supports with Community Substance Abuse Providers |
| Jonathan Scaccia, University of South Carolina, jonathan.p.scaccia@gmail.com |
| Andrea Lamont, University of South Carolina, alamont082@gmail.com |
| Jennifer Castellow, University of South Carolina, castellj@email.sc.edu |
| Maternal Outreach Management Services (MOMS) is a comprehensive, community-informed program comprised of multiple interventions with the primary goal of promoting substance-free childbirth among substance-abusing pregnant women. In collaboration with administrators and clinicians at the Lexington/Richland Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council (LRADAC), the Quality Implementation Tool (QIT) was used to identify specific organizational variables which could be targeted for both general and innovation-specific capacity building to ensure quality implementation. Initially, stakeholders collectively completed the QIT to systematically plan for quality implementation, from which capacity-related needs were identified. Further, the QIT was used to identify foci for the support activities that were developed to ensure quality implementation (e.g., technical assistance, quality assurance). Later, the QIT was used to monitor and evaluate how these actions were executed and whether they effectively enhanced the innovation-specific capacity of both the individual clinicians and the organizational support staff in the implementation of the MOMS program. |